A lot of people seem to be bearish of stocks. Some think they can go higher. But I think they can still go a lot higher. This was the point that I was making on our Conference Call 3 weeks ago. The information coming in since then continues to confirm all of the things we wanted to see. While I was pounding the table to be buying I also pointed to a group of things we wanted to see happen to make sure we were in the right direction. This included US Bank Stocks rallying with US Interest Rates, and Gold and Bonds falling. We wanted to see Europe break out along with U.K., rather than rolling over creating a big mess out there. Nikkei needed to recover and stay in a bullish range in momentum. Every single one of these things happened. So yes, I absolutely think we can still go a lot higher in stocks.

From an asset allocation standpoint, one chart that has been an important one in my eyes is how US Stocks are doing against competing asset classes, bonds and Gold in particular. If stocks are in the bull market that we keep claiming they're in, then there...

I can't tell you guys how important it is to stop whatever you're doing and take a step back. It's so easy for us to get caught up in the day to day noise and forget about the underlying trends in the market. We're human. We're built to be this way. But recognizing this flaw is an important step in correcting it and trying to benefit from the fact that others are unaware. One of my favorite ways to do this is to look through a series of Monthly Candlestick Charts at the end of every month. Remember, we don't want to look at these mid-month as candles are incomplete. It is the final results that we are most concerned with.

We want to use this bigger picture strategy to identify the directions of the underlying trends in the market. This goes for all markets: Stocks, both U.S. and Globally, Interest Rates, Precious Metals, Energy, Currencies, etc. This is how we know what the trends are so we can then go to our weekly and daily charts to look for more tactical opportunities within those ongoing trends. This is a very important element to our top/down approach.

I'm back from a 2-week trip to Asia and it's almost like nothing has changed. Stocks are hitting all-time highs, so many people are trying to be cute calling for a top and the gold bugs are angry. The difference is that now the Small-caps have finally broken out of a 10-month base to new all-time highs. This goes for the Small-cap Russell2000 Index, S&P Small-cap 600 Index and the Russell Micro-cap Index. These indexes have done nothing in almost a year. Can you imagine the nerve of some people to call the US Stock Market "Stretched" or "Too far too soon" (whatever that means), when some of the most important indexes are just now breaking out of 10-month bases? Too far too soon? They've gone no where for 10 months? Are you kidding me?

It's like I'm talking to a wall sometimes. Too Stretched? Are we looking at the same market?

We talk about a lot of different markets here and we use a lot of different information to come up with a thesis. We look at International Stock Markets, Interest Rates, Sector Rotation, Individual Stocks, Breadth Measurements, Currencies, Commodities and an endless supply of Intermarket Ratios. But today I want to talk about a breakout that we've been waiting for now for some time.

I've been using Investopedia.com for as long as I can remember. Especially early in my career, whenever I had a question about the market or didn't know what something meant, Investopedia was always there to help. Whether it was a simple definition or I just needed an explanation on something more complicated, this website been a reliable source of educational material throughout my many years in this business.

Today, I am excited to announce that I have partnered up with the amazing people at Investopedia to launch their first ever Technical Analysis Course! It is such an honor for me to be a part of this incredible company. It's like my career has come full circle. This is so cool! You can go through all of the videos and supplemental information at your own pace. That's the best part!

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You guys have spoken. It is clear how little value you're getting from the data miners.

I'm really lucky that I get to speak with investors all over the world on a daily basis. Some are Technicians just like me, but most are not. You guys are Financial Advisors, Traders at Hedge Funds & Mutual Funds, Portfolio Managers and Family Offices. You're in the business of making money in the market. A lot of you aren't even professionals but still fall in that same category of trying to profit in the market.

I've learned to be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble. You guys email me and ask me questions. I ask questions right back. I'm winning too in this deal, remember? It's a two-way street. In a lot of cases, you guys are much smarter than I am. Members of Allstarcharts include Traders swinging serious money and representatives from pretty much all of the biggest Broker Dealers on the planet. We're not penny stock promoters lying to young kids about becoming millionaires so we can travel and party with pretty girls. If you're reading this it's because...

Are stocks in the 9th year of a bull market? No. Not even close. I would argue we might even be in the first year. You can see some of my list of reasons outlined here in Modern Trader Magazine earlier this year. Another major component of what I consider to be a structural bull market is a relative outperformance compared with other assets. When we're looking at U.S. stocks, I think the obvious comparison is vs U.S. Treasury Bonds.

Today we're taking a look at the S&P500 ETF $SPY vs the U.S. Treasury Bonds ETF $TLT. The comparison is very simple: Stocks or Bonds? One argument I can make why we're not even through the first year of this structural bull market is because we have gone absolutely no where since 2007 relative to Treasuries. This has been a dead money trade for a decade. Late last year the ratio did break out to new highs, signaling to us that this was the beginning of a new move higher after 10 years of consolidation since that historic top in 2007, not the end:

There are no short cuts guys. There is no magic indicator that will tell you when to buy and sell stocks, or any other security out there, yes even Bitcoin. The best way to see what's happening in the market and weigh all the evidence, is to actually weigh all of the evidence! It's not a secret formula. You just have to put in the work, or trust someone that does that work for you consistently and thoroughly.

I'm really lucky that Members of Allstarcharts come from all over the world just to see my homework. A lot of them come to me for trade ideas, but just as many come for my Global Macro context. Of course, most are here for both. I've heard from so many Members over the years, either over the phone, in person for beers or just through email conversations. The value they get from their membership depends on a lot of things. Many are traders at hedge funds, portfolio managers, financial advisors and family offices. Some Members are retired investors or in many cases younger investors first getting into the business....

Jonathan Krinsky is a great compliment to the guests we have already had on Technical Analysis Radio. His Intermarket and top/down approach is very well rounded and consistent. In this podcast episode, Jonathan explains how his mentor Phil Roth helped point him in the right direction earlier in his career, particularly during the 2008 Financial crisis. In this discussion we talk about US and Global Stocks, Interest Rates, Gold, Silver and Crude Oil. Sectors mentioned include Financials, Technology, Biotechnology and Energy. I really enjoyed this conversation!

One of the best ways to get a gauge of the strength or weakness in the U.S. Stock Market is to go through all of the stocks in the indexes. Every week I rip through all 500 stocks in the S&P500 on both weekly and daily timeframes. This works well for 2 reasons: 1) it gives me a great idea of how the entire market looks collectively, but it also allows me to find individual risk vs reward opportunities throughout the market. It works great for both.

For people who simply don't have the time, or interest, to get that deep into market analysis, I find the Dow 30 review to be really helpful. If you take a look at a chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average going back 100 years and overlay it with the S&P500, they look pretty much the same. So if their correlations are that high, then going through the Dow 30 components on both weekly and daily timeframes is a much more efficient use of time.

First of all, these are 30 of the most important stocks in America, so that by definition makes them 30 of the most important in the world. Second, we want to take a weight-of-the-evidence approach here and ask ourselves, Are there more good ones or bad ones? ...

Peter Brandt has successfully traded in 5 different decades using classic Technical Analysis principles that date back to the 1930s and 40s. In this conversation Peter goes over his selection process and strict risk management procedures. With a primary goal of capital preservation, Peter uses the leverage available in the futures and forex markets to position himself into low risk opportunities that also offer a high reward. We talk about the current environment for Stocks, Interest Rates and Commodities. Within the futures and forex space, Peter discusses his current outlook on Gold, Silver, Crude Oil, Canadian Dollar and Agriculture-related assets like Soybean Meal, Wheat and Sugar. In this podcast episode, Peter shares with us how he uses the Commitment of Traders report to supplement what he is seeing in the behavior of price. We are lucky to have almost a full hour with one of  the best traders I know!